Editing Dawson, Georgia (section)

==History==
Dawson was founded in 1856 as seat of the newly formed [[Terrell County, Georgia|Terrell County]]. It was incorporated as a town in 1857 and as a city in 1872.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=REtEXQNWq6MC&pg=PA227 | title=Historical Gazetteer of the United States | publisher=Routledge | date=May 13, 2013 | access-date=30 November 2013 | author=Hellmann, Paul T. | pages=227| isbn=978-1135948597 }}</ref> Terrell was an important site in the 1960s, when the county in which it is located was labeled "Terrible Terrell" by the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee|SNCC]]. [[Jackie Robinson]] helped raise money to rebuild three black churches that were burned in the area.

In 1976, five African-American youths were charged with the murder of a white customer in a roadside convenience store. The crime and pretrial proceedings garnered national attention.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dintenfass |first1=Andrew |last2=Canter |first2=Ron |title=Life and Death: Dawson, Georgia (1977) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF4X3I-o-2U&t=107s |website=youtube |publisher=WGBH Boston |access-date=20 February 2019 }}</ref> The five young men, one of whom was a juvenile, charged in the case were known as "[[Dawson Five|The Dawson Five]]". The court dropped the charges against the group of five; Roosevelt Watson, Henderson Watson, J.D. Davenport, Johnnie B. Jackson, and George Poor, when it found evidence of [[police misconduct]], including [[False confession|coerced confessions]], intimidation and improper identification procedures.<ref name="nyt1">{{cite web |last1=Wicker |first1=Tom |title=Still 'Terrible Terrell' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/08/14/archives/still-terrible-terrell.html |website=The New York Times |date=14 August 1977}}</ref>